Transplanting a small ginko

December 4, 2014 2:43 PM

We're moving house. I planted a ginko seedling about six years ago at our current house - being a very slow-growing tree, it's now still only about 2-ft high. It's also summer in Australia, so it's not dormant and it has foliage. Would this be a very bad time to dig it up and plant it at our new house? What precautions should I take to make sure it survives the journey?
posted by Jimbob to Home & Garden (2 answers total)

I would try it- why not? You may stress it enough to induce dormancy (i.e. it may drop all its leaves), but the nice thing about deciduous trees is that they are used to that kind of thing, and often bounce back. The biggest issue with trees from a seed vs. cutting is the main tap root. You will want to sort of play archaeologist and carefully dig around it to find the root ball. Start a little ways out from the dripline and dig a trench - you're trying to expose the underground structure of the tree, not just use the shovel to pry it out. It's okay to cut many of the smaller feeder roots, but you won't want to cut the big tap root. Have some burlap and twine to wrap the root ball up as much as possible before you pull it out of the hole. Ensure that you don't let the root ball dry out on it's journey, plant at the same level, and be careful not to overwater in the new site. Don't worry about adding soil amendments, and don't fertilize for a month or two, if at all. If you do, use a slow-release, low nitrogen fertilizer to promote root growth, not nitrogenous growth right now.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:20 PM on December 5, 2014

Oh, and there are some tables at the bottom of this article that may help you estimate the size of your rootball.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:23 PM on December 5, 2014